Strangers in a strange land...
"Of whom the world was not worthy--wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."
--- Hebrews 11:38
Wanderers, nomads, sojourners, madmen in the desert, such is our heritige in the Christian faith. From the very beginning, Abel was a shepheard, Seth and his line after him were keepers of flocks, while Cain founded the first city. It is in the line of Cain that you will find the fruits of settled civilization.
Abraham was called out of the great civilization of his day to roam and wander after the flocks. Moses also left his place as a prince of Egypt to tend sheep as a nomad in the desert before he was called to lead God's people in the desert.
The exodus is a parable for the journey all God's people must make. To leave the familiarity and security of Egypt, comfortable despite its slavery, and strike out for the promised land. A dream on the edge of waking. They wander in the desert because they have no home any longer in Egypt and the time of the promise has not yet been fulfilled. So they sojourn as strangers in the land.
We in our settled and secure society tend to forget the stark and wild image that is our heretige as Christians. We follow in the foot steps of prophets who were outcast in their own time, Saints hated and feared by the world around them, and a Lord that men called mad.
Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived to that time. John made his home in the wilderness, outside of civilization, wore animal skins and ate bugs as one of his main food stuffs.
If you find that you are at home in the society of this world, I encourage you to take a closer look at the beliefs you hold. How do they compare to those of the saints who have gone before us? Do you find your place among their company, or are they too wild, too crazy, and to unsettled for you?
When we were joined to Christ, we became strangers to this world. We are in the world until Christ returns, but we are not of it. We belong to something higher.
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel."
--- Hebrews 12:22-24
--- Hebrews 11:38
Wanderers, nomads, sojourners, madmen in the desert, such is our heritige in the Christian faith. From the very beginning, Abel was a shepheard, Seth and his line after him were keepers of flocks, while Cain founded the first city. It is in the line of Cain that you will find the fruits of settled civilization.
Abraham was called out of the great civilization of his day to roam and wander after the flocks. Moses also left his place as a prince of Egypt to tend sheep as a nomad in the desert before he was called to lead God's people in the desert.
The exodus is a parable for the journey all God's people must make. To leave the familiarity and security of Egypt, comfortable despite its slavery, and strike out for the promised land. A dream on the edge of waking. They wander in the desert because they have no home any longer in Egypt and the time of the promise has not yet been fulfilled. So they sojourn as strangers in the land.
We in our settled and secure society tend to forget the stark and wild image that is our heretige as Christians. We follow in the foot steps of prophets who were outcast in their own time, Saints hated and feared by the world around them, and a Lord that men called mad.
Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived to that time. John made his home in the wilderness, outside of civilization, wore animal skins and ate bugs as one of his main food stuffs.
If you find that you are at home in the society of this world, I encourage you to take a closer look at the beliefs you hold. How do they compare to those of the saints who have gone before us? Do you find your place among their company, or are they too wild, too crazy, and to unsettled for you?
When we were joined to Christ, we became strangers to this world. We are in the world until Christ returns, but we are not of it. We belong to something higher.
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel."
--- Hebrews 12:22-24
posted by Simon Templar | 9:21 AM
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